God’s Heart is Revealed in Stillness

By Swami Khecaranatha

Learning to live in the stillness of the heart is vital to spiritual growth. An authentic spiritual practice provides us with the tools to contact this deepest resonance of our heart—both during our meditation and as we extend ourselves out in to the world. We anchor ourselves in our center, in the stillness of our heart, and this is what creates a profound, permanent immersion into the heart of God.

When we find ourselves caught in turmoil, it is a strong clue that we need to get still. Instead of immediately reacting to the incessant need to do something, find something, or get rid of something, we must learn to rest in stillness. If we do that, whatever we are attached to will lose its grip. It is vital to recognize that our personal willfulness emerges from and perpetuates our patterns of desire and attachment. That need to control life comes from the mind, which is able to create an extraordinary amount of delusion in us.

Desirelessness is freedom from the incessant thought and feeling that life has to be a certain way. It is the recognition of the perfection of our life at every moment. In this acceptance, what can we desire, except to allow Grace to unfold? This is not a concept. It is not theory. It should be and can be our experience that perfection is unfolding in our life at every moment. When we still our desires and awareness we cut the cords of attachment, which frees us to be immersed in our highest Self. We discover unconditional joy within ourselves not by manipulating, pushing, and shoving, not by trying to make life different, but by simply diving into the state of consciousness where perfection is crystal clear.

The Stillness of Will

Ultimately, desirelessness shows itself as stillness of will—which is beyond the mere acceptance of God’s will. It is the celebration of God’s will as it expresses itself through us. The capacity to live in simplicity is fundamental to being able to free ourselves and to allow Divine Presence to reveal Itself. When we find the stillness of breath, awareness, desire, and will, we gain the ability to truly open our heart and feel the incredible Presence that lies within—always there, just waiting for us to tune in to It.

When we align our will with God’s, devotion arises and sets us free. As Nityananda said, “As is your devotion, so is your liberation.” He also said, “Devotion is not intended to eliminate difficulty.” What an amazing statement. It means we are not living in God’s will if we can only be devoted when life is the way we think it ought to be. Nityananda’s words are so powerful because they cut through any illusion we may have that if we open our heart, every aspect of life will henceforth be perfect.

Until we open deep enough to feel the emergent quality of devotion to the God within, we remain devoted to ourselves. We bow at the altar of ego, selfishness, and desire. The real opportunity to know a profoundly different place in ourselves can only arise from an open heart. Our relationship to the Divine rests in the commitment we make—which is an expression of our love, gratitude, devotion, and surrender—no matter what surfaces in our lives. We trust the God within when He presents us with the perfect situation that requires us to get bigger inside and find our freedom.

We cannot want freedom one day and not want it the next. We cannot appreciate it when we have it but be unwilling to work to find it again when we have lost it. Devotion is an act of service to the God within who is trying to express His own freedom through us. If that is not yet your experience, start at the bottom of the ladder and learn to serve, to give, and to extend yourself. This is how we sacrifice our selfishness, laziness, and self-centeredness. It’s how we really get in touch with what life is asking of us and move beyond any resistance to offering what is needed.

Rising to Meet God’s Grace

Liberation emerges from the descent of God’s Grace and the ascension of the seeker’s devotion. These two forces converge in stillness, allowing God in and allowing us out. In stillness we make contact with profound Grace and can live in God’s heart, every moment of our lives. Every moment of our lives—not just some moments. God gave us the experience of life so we can find our Divinity. Being human should not negate our Divinity, just as being Divine does not negate our humanity. Of course, the problem is that we consistently get caught in the duality of human existence and think we are separate from God. We lose contact with Unity as we identify with the dynamics of daily life, with being happy or sad. These fluctuations are natural, but we mistakenly believe that there is duality in those seeming opposites. When we enter into the sky of the heart, individuated consciousness merges with the Divine, allowing for the dissolution of all dualistic misunderstanding.

It is purely our misperception that there is a mountain of obstacles between us and God. The choice to live in the utter simplicity of God’s love is the first thing we must bring to our spiritual endeavor. Then our practice is to get more deeply in contact with that love and less with the mountain of obstacles we have built in front of ourselves, which we perceive as a barrier to living in Divinity.

We must become a master at meditation in order to find that sweet essence, and this requires becoming a master of our consciousness instead of continuing to be a slave to our unconsciousness. When we focus our awareness back into its own Source, we are merging into that which we always were. We are dissolving the veils of duality. The glimpses we have of pure being, of stillness, accompanied by feelings of love or joy, are God’s Grace showing us “This is what it is like.” Grace is giving us the experience of who we really are so that we will know our way home, even if we get lost. Then it’s up to us to do the inner work to actually get there.

What It Means To Be A Student

By Swami Khecaranatha

If you ask me to be your teacher, it’s a declaration of your intention to formalize a relationship that has been developing over time. You may have begun the practice with a casual level of involvement, but have become more actively engaged and consciously committed.

The Dalai Lama has said, “There are thousands of paths to God, choose one and become a master of it.”

The Value of Commitment

When you become my student you are affirming that our practice is the path you are choosing on the journey to God. I believe this is the commitment that opens you so that you can more deeply receive Divine Grace. You may experience a more palpable connection to our lineage of teachers. And certainly, you’ve openly declared what you hold as sacred and have committed to freedom.

While there is sometimes fear associated with making a commitment, it is, in fact, commitment that frees you. There is a tendency to be involved in all kinds of activities in life, and the effect is that often not much ever takes root in one’s core being. Our lives consist of multiple problems—of pain, pleasure, points of view, having too many options—and they all complicate our existence.

Everything in our life experience, concerning spirituality or anything else, is usually a matter of “shopping around for the best deal.” We all make hundreds of choices in our lives, particularly in regard to our sense of discipline, ethics, and our spiritual path. There are numerous disciplines available, taken from many types of traditions and philosophies. You may try to combine all of them, and find that some might conflict while others work together harmoniously. But in doing so, you are constantly “shopping,” and that is really the basic problem.

By formally becoming a student in this practice, you end your shopping spree in the spiritual supermarket. You decide to stick to a particular brand because it has worked for you and are affirming, “I know there are thousands of paths to God. I choose this one.”

An Ancient Path

This is a path that emerged from the inner practices of the ancient nondual adepts over two thousand years ago. There is a tremendous power inherent in our practice and lineage, embodied by Bhavagan Nityananda (the wellspring of our practice) and Swami Rudrananda (my guru, the powerful conduit of that energy). This power resides in an unfolding, living spiritual force passed from heart to heart, generation after generation.

Scholar Mark Dyczkowski said that our practice, with its focus on the use of energy (particularly through shakti transmission), embodies the highest teachings of the ancient nondual traditions, and specifically those elucidated by the 11th century master, Abhinavagupta. It is by Rudi’s grace that this practice is available to each of you. Although he did not study scripture, Rudi’s practice and teachings, uncovered from within himself through commitment, are a perfect expression of the most sacred of the ancient practices.

Once you have said, “I seek no alternative,” you enter a discipline of choicelessness—because you have made your choice. Perhaps, at first glance, this approach may seem repressive, but it is only possible to find freedom when there are no side tracks or exits. Usually you tend to look for solutions through something new, something outside yourself. Commitment to your spiritual growth through a particular path is working ever more deeply within, without escape routes.

Your Journey to Freedom

Commitment is an expression of freedom because you are no longer bound by uncertainty. It represents a decision to focus. Acknowledging that the only real means to unconditional joy and fulfillment is through transforming yourself, you affirm your spiritual aim and the path you have chosen.

Becoming a student is a deeply personal matter. It’s not required, so it’s a request that rises from your own heart—to acknowledge the sense of coming home and the desire to live a life of greater consciousness. You are taking on the precepts of the practice, professing your own longing, and exposing your vulnerability. Ultimately, asking to be a student in this practice (or any other authentic practice) is a total commitment to the God who dwells within you as your Self.

My role as a teacher is to support you in your sādhana. I am unconditionally devoted to those who are dedicated to their spiritual freedom. But I understand that there are many bumps on the road to freedom, and therefore my commitment is to help you progress along that journey. This includes being available for guidance, which is a form of śakti transmission that can often be more difficult to assimilate than the pure energy that is offered in class, yet can be invaluable if offered in love and accepted in the same spirit.

Please understand that whether or not you formally become a student does not change what I give, only what you receive. I am a gateway to the energy of our lineage, and that connection is always available, because the essence of that energy—Consciousness—is already within you, as your Self. I’m here to serve you, in whatever way I can.

What Do You REALLY Want?

By Swami Khecaranatha

There’s one single purpose in our sādhana—and that’s to know God. My experience is that although it’s also the very purpose of life, it requires tremendous inner clarity to be certain that knowing God is what we really want. As students, we must be honest and ask ourselves: do I really want to know the highest in me?

The real challenge for all of us in our spiritual life is to come to true insight about that, because it requires an unwavering focus and decisive fierceness to hold on to what we say we want. There are millions of reasons to lose sight of our purpose—both within ourselves and while living in the world. The essential problem is that the ego doesn’t want to surrender itself; we as individuals don’t want to surrender our identity. We therefore have to find the part of us that does want to know God, and then make everything else in our life be in support of our wish.

The Power of Our Longing

I’ll never forget being in a room with Rudi when he said, “Nobody wants.” This was shortly after I began my spiritual practice and it pierced me like a dagger. His words reinforced what an extraordinary opportunity was being made available to me, but also how much work is required to create and to one-pointedly hold on to that wanting throughout the course of our lives.

Rudi’s own life was one of profound spiritual longing. He sat eight hours a night for eight years, asking one thing: “I wish to grow.” Rudi also lived under extraordinary suffering, which led him to recognize that without his unwavering, decisive fierceness about what he really wanted, he could not be certain which aspect of his life was going to win. This is what brought him his freedom. That absolute clarity attracted to him everything he needed, including the energy that was required to hold on to and feed his wish, to guard against anything that tried to steal it from him. The same principal applies to each of us.

If we know what we want, and if we’re willing everyday to sit down and cultivate that longing, we come to realize that the longing is a beacon from God, calling us home. Then, all of our decisions, all the use of our life force, become centered around that. Nothing becomes more important than our spiritual growth, and, in light of that, we perceive that everything is sacred because it’s part of the dynamic that God has offered to us.

When is the moment that we lose track of our longing? To be perfectly clear, it happens to almost everyone. The question you must ask yourself is this: Will I be one of them? If we want to know God, then what is it we’re unprepared to surrender to find that knowing? Our ego is usually the first thing we’re unwilling to surrender and that ripples out into the ego’s effect on our life. Are we prepared to surrender what we perceive to be our life, our career, our relationships? We must be prepared to surrender ourselves to that longing, because it’s only the highest place in us that can live in that longing, no matter what.

Engagement With A Teacher

When the wish to know God begins to emerge in us, it leads us to a teacher. The single purpose of having a relationship with a teacher is to provide the energy, nourishment, and support to enable us to establish ourselves in a permanent connection to God.

It’s not really about how often we come to class. What’s critical is how clear we are about what we want and how honest we are with ourselves about whether we are achieving that single thing we say we want. The ego has the same power to obscure our longing as grace has to reveal it, so a major aspect of our sadhana is to be free from ego. It’s important to understand that being free from ego is twofold: our wish for it to happen, and somebody to help us make it happen. This primarily means being in contact with an energy field that moves us through our uncertainty and limited egoic perspective.

Never let go of that connection to your teacher and the teacher’s lineage. Imagine that you fell into a turbulent river and are heading toward Victoria Falls. Somebody throws you a lifeline. At what point do you let go? If you really don’t want to go over the falls you never let go. You hold on until that lifeline frees you from the possibility of something else.

The essential question is whether or not we have the capacity to stay connected to the teacher’s energy on our own. I see people who show up once a month and they’re absolute wrecks. A little work in class, and the light is shining. A month later they appear. . . and they’re wrecks again. The energetic support from our relationship to a teacher in a lineage is available to us at all times, but for most people, maintaining that connection requires the contact we receive in person, in class.

I’ve made myself available in support of what people sitting in front of me seem to be saying: “I want to know God.” I’d teach five nights a week if necessary, because I understand what an extraordinary challenge it is to truly achieve spiritual freedom. I understand the amount of energy it takes for the rocket to get off the planet.

The bottom line is that you have to be really clear in yourself: do you have the capacity to close your eyes and connect to God? If you do, you don’t need me or anybody else. If you don’t, perhaps you need me or somebody else. It’s never about the teacher; it’s about us—about the clarity and the strength of our longing and what we’re prepared to do to hold on to it. I want each of you to know that I’m here to serve you. Decide if you want to be served. But ask yourself what part of you is making that decision. Teaching and serving is my duty and my honor, and I will be in your heart as long as you want me to be there.

Śaktipāta and Kuṇḍalinī Transmission

By Swami Khecaranatha

Śaktipāta is the descent of grace that comes directly from the Divine. We experience it as an awakening of the desire to know our true Self, which leads us to seek a teacher who can provide the energy necessary to allow that initial opening to further unfold. So what exactly is the role of śakti transmission in a student’s sādhana?

To answer that question, let’s take a step back and look at the structure of Consciousness to see how we come into existence. Ultimately, we are nothing other than the manifestation of Pure Consciousness as it expresses itself in individuated form, which is called kuṇḍalinī śakti. The purpose of that expression is simply the overflowing of the joy of God’s own being, the celebration of the power of Consciousness to express itself in the universe, in form, in individuation. Kuṇḍalinī is literally the individuation of that supreme cosmic force, the power of Consciousness.

Kuṇḍalinī is understood to have three fundamental dimensions: prāṇa kuṇḍalinī, the energy that gives life to our body; cit kuṇḍalinī, which gives life to our mind and our individuated consciousness; and parā kuṇḍalinī, the energy of our spiritual self. Parā kuṇḍalinī is in fact that same Pure Consciousness that descends into form without ever losing its unbounded awareness.

The Ascent of Consciousness

Kuṇḍalinī Sādhana is the reversal of the descent of Consciousness into individuated form. We’re attempting to ascend back from individuation into non-individuation—in other words, into universal awareness. The awakening of kuṇḍalinī is really the awakening of our awareness of the deepest core of ourselves. Sometimes kuṇḍalinī described as being dormant in the base of the spine. I like to say it’s not actually dormant; we’re just not aware of it because our own awareness and life force are projected outwardly, embedded in objectivity. Normally that energy is not internalized within us because we have extended it outside of ourselves through our engagement with the world of form.

It’s not that the energy was ever outside us, but we perceive it as something outside ourselves primarily because we’re not in contact with the internal dimension of it—that internal flow, that ever-present current, that ever-present thread. Our sādhana therefore necessitates internalizing our awareness and our life force, connecting to the kuṇḍalinī śakti that gave life to us, and allowing it to rise through the suṣumṇa back to its source in Consciousness.

Śaktipāta can be described as God calling us home, revealing Himself in us to whatever extent we are able to perceive the glimmer of that light. God is saying, “This is who you are. I am in you, find me.” This most often initially arises as an inner longing to truly know who we are, followed by our experience that there is a need for some energy source to fuel that longing, which is what propels us to find a teacher.

From a dualistic perspective we feel, “There’s me, and there’s an external force.” Yet, at the highest level, all of this happens in the field of Consciousness, in God’s awareness. The descent into individuation is not something outside of Consciousness; it is the expression of diversity within one field of unified awareness. The ascent of kuṇḍalinī is the expansion of our separated, individuated consciousness into the direct experience of universal awareness. But in order to have this realization, we must be freed from limited consciousness, which can only perceive duality.

The Role of the Teacher

In our sādhana, we’re opening to and strengthening the energetic pathway to consciousness so that we can ultimately just rest in a state in which awareness becomes aware of itself. When yogis of ancient times sat down and started looking for Consciousness, they first found that there was energy inside. By tuning in to that energy these inner scientists discovered their cakras and the ever-present liberating current of pranic flow. Becoming ever more still within that śakti, they were led to discover Consciousness itself.

Kuṇḍalinī śakti is a conscious energy; you can say it has an intrinsic GPS to lead it home. As kuṇḍalinī is activated, it begins its ascent through the suṣumṇa, breaking through the granthi—untying those accumulated knots of tension and karma—clearing the path back to the source from whence it came. As we surrender to that śakti, we’re allowing it to free itself and reveal to us its own capacity to be conscious.

What happens when we come in contact with a śakti transmission guru? There is at once a direct transmission of a spiritual force and also a redirecting inward of our own spiritual force that we have habitually extended outside our own awareness, outside the suṣumṇa. The spiritual force being transmitted contains three elements, like an electrical cord with three wires running through it:

• The actual individual spiritual force within the teacher, their own (hopefully) liberated śakti• The transmission of the living spiritual force of a lineage • The cosmic force of God’s energy

If the vessel of the teacher is not so clean, there’s more of their individual force being transmitted. The more surrendered the teacher is, the more the power of lineage or the energy of Consciousness itself comes through

This transmission acts as a magnet to draw the student’s own individual energy back to itself. There’s at once both energy and Consciousness being transmitted. The teacher is directing it into the suṣumṇa, internalizing that vital force, and letting its inner GPS find a pathway back up through the suṣumṇa to its source. There’s no limitation to what the student receives, regardless of the openness of the channel of śakti within the teacher. If the student finds a simple place of surrender from which to receive, there are no constraints on what can be transmitted.

The teacher provides the function of awakening us to the energy within us that was ever-present, but perhaps beyond our perception. We’re now in contact with it and can surrender to it and allow it to rise through us back to its source, which is Consciousness. As that energy rises, our own consciousness expands and our capacity to perceive our highest Self is revealed. We ultimately find the unimpeded channel, the Divine Thread, through which the pure light of our individuated spiritual self, parākuṇḍalinī, can rise back to its own Self, in the space of dvādaśānta, twelve inches above our head.

Sometimes it’s said that when you receive śaktipāta, kuṇḍalinī is awakened, and when you meet a teacher and receive transmission, it’s time to get out of the way. Surrender is the key. Any limitation in the teacher’s capacity to transmit can be transcended through surrender; likewise, the student’s depth of surrender is the major determinant of what he or she receives. Fortunately, a teacher who lives in a state of surrender can even penetrate through any non-surrender within a student, allowing a greater transformation of consciousness than the student can find on his or her own. Such is the power of śakti transmission.